In our bi-monthly Seattlemag.com column, Knute Berger--who writes regularly for Seattle Magazine and Crosscut.com and is a frequent pundit on KUOW--takes an in-depth look at some of the highly topical and sometimes polarizing issues in our city.

This article originally appeared on Avvo.The long and profitable history of merchandising logged a new, strange chapter recently: A McDonald’s Happy Meal toy, created to help promote the new Universal Studios family film Minions is evidently prone to dropping F-bombs.

If any organization captures the pioneering and enduring spirit of Seattle’s vibrant biomedical research scene, it has to be hometown giant Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Known simply as Fred Hutch, the center was opened in 1975 by Dr. Bill Hutchinson, who named it in honor of his brother, a Major League Baseball player who died of cancer at the age of 45. Initially, it focused most prominently on the groundbreaking bone marrow transplant program led by future Nobel Prize winner Dr. E. Donnall Thomas.

“Patients have many needs that go beyond what medical care can provide,” says Clarissa Hsu, Ph.D., Group Health Research Institute assistant investigator. So she, along with physician Dr. Dan Delgado and a team of Group Health patients and staff, set out to learn how best to connect patients with community resources that can support their health goals outside of the doctor’s office.

The images may not be be Pinterest-worthy, but to surgeon Heather Evans, they’re priceless.The associate professor of surgery at the University of Washington is leading the development of a smartphone application that will allow patients to send photos of their incisions to their care team—hopefully, before the wounds advance to the point of infection. A project of the schools of Nursing and Medicine, with support from the UW Center for Commercialization, it is the first mobile postoperative wound evaluator (known by the acronym mPOWEr).

One in 20 Americans suffers from an autoimmune disease, such as multiple sclerosis or type 1 diabetes. Treating these patients was a founding goal of the immunology program at Benaroya Research Institute (BRI), which began 30 years ago under the guidance of Dr. Gerald Nepom. Now BRI is a global leader in immune system research, and in 2014 became the home of the Immune Tolerance Network, an international clinical research consortium with 178 sites worldwide.

When it comes to health research, the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), cofounded by pioneering biologist Leroy Hood, M.D., thinks big—really big. One of the institute’s pioneering studies, the 100K Wellness Project, has been collecting data about human bodies from brains to genes, since March 2014. Participants get their genomes sequenced upon entry, their sleep patterns studied, their gut bacteria examined, their proteins tracked, with doctors intervening where appropriate to improve future wellness.

Heart disease is the number-one cause of death worldwide. Despite its strength, the heart is one of the least regenerative organs in the body, and heart attacks irreparably damage crucial muscle cells. The scar tissue left behind can cause chronic heart failure.

When Megan Moreno, M.D., started her subspecialty training in adolescent health back in 2005, she often found herself playing detective. Teens would come in complaining of chronic headaches or stomachaches, but the causes often weren’t what one would normally expect.“When I would ask the patients when these symptoms started, they would say it was around the same time embarrassing pictures were posted of them on Myspace or Facebook,” Moreno says.

Back in May, I wrote about Camp Rahh, an all-inclusive summer camp for grown-ups that I was set to attend in early June. Well I did. And I regaled my experiences over at The Liberty Project. You may recall the camp was cellphone- and booze-free (and also that I kind of hate camping), so just how did I fare? "People discussed shared interests and calmly talked politics.

The Makers is a new column on Seattlemag.com that explores different Seattle creatives and their crafts. These artists live to design, connect and create.
­­Anthropologie is the Mecca of vintage-boho charm. Its two floors brim with everything from printed silk blouses to overstuffed retro armchairs--all intertwined with fanciful displays and artistic creations, turning each shopping trip into a Wonderland-like escape (complete with hand-painted ceramic teacups).

Alley Makeovers: According to a Seattle Times article about “alley activation,” there's a plan to renovate alleys to make them more accessible to residents. Neighborhoods with alleys that will receive a little love in the coming months include the Chinatown-International District, Capitol Hill, the University District and Pioneer Square.